Author's note: I own nothing but the words. Thoughts in italics. Constructive criticism appreciated.
She had built a tower. A tower of memories. Stacked on the coffee table were photographs and paintings that she had been meaning to reorganize for weeks now, and as she put her palm on top of them she felt oddly proud of herself. The tower didn't even sway.
Plopping down on the couch, she brought her knees up to her chest and let her gaze travel between the empty walls of her apartment and the well crafted tower before her. It had seemed like such a good idea to do this tonight, like the act of reorganizing could somehow organize her thoughts and allow for a good nights sleep. Didn't Maura once say something about how you slept better if you felt you had accomplished something during the day? With a sigh she picked up the item on top and frowned at it. A simple painting she had picked up at some market right after she moved in, because she had remembered at the time that there was some leftover space on her walls. Well isn't that ironic. Remembering the work it entailed to strip her walls on the rare occasion her mother's nagging worked enough for her to clean said walls, she wondered if that was something she should do before she put them all back up. The thought alone made her yawn. She dropped the painting back on the coffee table, intent on forming a new tower of worthless items. She was startled out of her attempt to form a plan of attack when her phone vibrated on the couch cushion beside her.
She picked it up, noticing it was a text from Maura.
"Upon further inspection I found a powdery substance on the victim's left shoe. I'm sending it to be analyzed as we speak (while we are technically not "speaking" at the moment, I would consider this to be one of the instances where this expression simply should not be altered, since it is in fact an expression). Results should be in before lunch tomorrow. Have a good night Jane."
To Jane, the only odd thing about that text was: What was Maura still doing at work?
Instead of replying she hit the call button. As usual she only had to wait 10 seconds.
"Hello Jane."
"Hey. Are you still at work?"
"Yes. Although I'm just about to leave."
"Maura, it's almost 10PM. Don't you have a herd of nerds to do "further inspection" of the victim's clothes?"
"While I consider my staff to be well equipped for such a task, I wanted to do this myself."
"Of course you did."
The line went quiet for a moment. Jane took this time to look at the task she had created before her. Dreading it more and more.
"Did you need something Jane?"
"Me? No. Seemed easier to call than to write thanks and good night."
"Well, in that case you're very welcome. I'll see you tomorrow Jane."
Jane chewed her thumb, a plan forming.
"Jane?"
"Oh yeah. Sorry."
"What are you doing?"
"Uhm... Can you stop by? I think I need your help with something."
"And what might that something be?"
"I had this genius idea to do some reorganizing, but I just realized how much I suck at it."
"What are you reorganizing?"
"Uhm... you'll see. I mean - if you're not too tired.."
"I'll be right there."
And the line went dead. Knowing that Maura most likely was very tired, and that she never should have asked her in the first place - she reached for the next item to at least make it seem like she had made an effort.
The knock on the door sounded when the "worthless" tower had grown to four items, and a newly developed "keep" tower had just formed.
When the door swung open Maura, with a tired smile on her face asked "What are we organizing?"
Jane stood back to allow Maura to enter and even though it was rather obvious she gestured towards the empty walls, bookshelves, and desks. "This."
Maura surveyed the scene before turning to Jane, a defeated look on her face.
"And what exactly gave you the idea to do this at ten o'clock at night?"
"The fact that I've been meaning to do it for at least 3 weeks."
"In the same 3 weeks that you've also contemplated moving out of this apartment?"
Oh yeah. There was that.
A pause. "Yeees?."
Jane could see Maura trying to not roll her eyes as she turned and moved towards the coffee table.
"Look. If you're tired you don't have to help. I'm sure I'll figure it out."
Maura left her handbag on the floor and took her jacket off, draping it over the back of the couch. "I'll help you. What do you need me to do?" Her attempt at a smile did not reassure Jane at all.
Jane sat down on the couch and patted the space next to her inviting Maura to do the same. Once seated Jane pointed at the first stack of frames.
"This is all that I've taken down." Pointing to the second stack. "This is the worthless stack." And the last one. "This is for keeps. Meaning I either put it back up, or I hide it in a drawer somewhere." She looked to Maura for any signs of ideas that might help move things along.
"Okay. And the object of all of this is...?"
"To be able to see my walls again AND have space to put up a few new photos."
"I see." Maura rubbed her nose. Jane felt bad.
"I know the fact that I'm doing this NOW says I don't really have much of an exciting life..."
Maura turned to her and gestured towards the three stacks on the coffee table.
"THIS would suggest that you have far too many memories, but not enough room."
Jane chuckled at that and reached for that painting again, holding it out so Maura could see.
"I bought this a week after I moved in. I knew I had all this wall space I hadn't filled and it seemed nice enough. Funny how that changed, huh."
Maura snagged the painting away from Jane and let her finger travel across the surface. It seemed to be an attempt at modern art, but other than that nothing about it stood out. "Is this in the worthless stack because your taste has also changed?"
Sensing that this meant the painting was now considered awful, Jane simply nodded.
"So what exactly do you want me to do? I can't help you judge what to keep or not."
"Well, you my friend are an excellent organizer - and I'm not." She smiled at Maura. "Help me come up with a system. You know... to get this done as fast as possible."
Maura took this into consideration and looked around Jane's apartment.
"So what you want is fast?"
"Yes."
"And you are aware that fast doesn't necessarily mean good?"
Jane swallowed. "Uhm.. yes."
"Yet you still want fast?"
"Uh-huh."
"Okay." Maura went quiet and continued looking around, most likely forming some sort of complex organizing theory.
She stood up from the couch, and moved to stand behind it. Dropping her hands to Jane's shoulders she gave a good squeeze and carried on.
"You keep organizing in stacks to determine the amount of space required for whatever is left in the keep stack. I'll make a rough estimation of the amount of space we have available. You might also want to separate the items that needs to be hung on the wall, rather than put on a flat surface." With that she moved away to work on estimating available space, while Jane was left rather speechless on the couch. I guess I asked for it.
After an half hour or so Jane patted the "keep" stacks, somewhat satisfied with herself. One with items that had to go on the wall, and one with items that could either go on the wall or on "a flat surface", as Maura called it.
Maura had, not surprisingly, finished her task within two minutes. Jane turned around with a "Tada!" to see her friend on a stool in the kitchen playing with her phone.
She put the phone down and went to look at Jane's good work, wearing an impressed smile.
"So this is all going back up?"
Jane patted the couch to get Maura to sit down. "That depends. How much space have I got left if I decide to put this up?"
Maura made a quick calculation. "At most? Minus 3 items."
Jane sighed. "Okay. So I need to get rid of at least 5 of these. I have two new things I also want to put up."
"Wall or flat surface?"
"Either."
Jane started going through the stacks in an attempt to find something that wasn't THAT important. She held a photo out in front of Maura and pointed to the frame.
"What do you think of this frame?"
"It's nice. It goes very well with the wall colour, and it's not distinct enough to clash with the photo in any way."
"Then I'm using this frame for one of the new photos I'm putting up. I think it's the right size." She started unclasping the back of the frame.
"What new photo are you putting up?" Watching Jane struggle with one of the clasps, she added an afterthought. "Does this mean you won't be putting that one back up?"
"Remember the photo Ma took of me, Tommy, and TJ when Tommy brought him over for his first Sunday dinner?"
Maura smiled at the memory. "Yes, she showed it to me before she got it processed. It was beautiful."
Since Jane didn't answer her last question she decided to dive right in.
"That photo is beautiful too. You should put it back up."
Jane shrugged, having finally gotten the photograph free of its frame. "Nah, I got plenty of photos like this already."
"Jane. He is still your father."
"I know." She traced her fingers gently across the photo of her young self, sitting on her father's lap with her head resting on his chest mid-laugh. Maura felt a tightness in her throat. You don't know how lucky you are.
Jane put the photo gently down on the coffee table and smiled sadly at her friend. "Besides, TJ is SO much cuter."
She stood up and moved towards her bedroom. When she got back she carried with her a thin envelope and something larger wrapped in brown paper, presumably another new addition. She took the photo out of the envelope and handed it to Maura. "Can you put this in the frame for me?"
Maura nodded and went to work while Jane continued her quest for photos to be held in a drawer for safe keeping.
Around midnight they stood back surveying the scene, obviously pleased with themselves. The empty walls were no longer empty, and Jane was pleased to see they weren't crowded either.
She pointed towards her "work desk", which was mostly occupied with magazines, books, and the occasional "knick knack". On top was a table lamp illuminating an empty space. The space she had reserved for her last new addition. It was perfect.
"And now the grand finale. Bring me the last one?" She gestured for Maura to get the latest item from the coffee table. Maura pointed towards the brown paper. "This one?"
"Yeah."
Maura didn't want to pry by unwrapping what felt like an already framed photograph, so she simply handed the whole thing over to Jane.
"Thanks." She took the package and started unwrapping the brown paper, while looking at Maura who seemed extremely curious.
"It really is a nice space for a photograph." Maura said.
"I know, that's why I've been saving it for last."
Turning towards the desk to use her body as a shield between the photo and Maura, Jane dropped the paper to the floor, and attempted to align the framed photo perfectly on the wooden desk.
When she stepped back beside Maura, she didn't look at the photo. She wanted to see Maura's reaction.
Maura was stunned.
"Oh Jane." Her eyes watered immediately, blurring the view of the photo Jane had chosen for the best space in the entire room. One of the new photos she wanted to put up, that had urged her to start this whole event in the first place. A photo of them. Of her.
"It's just a photo, Maura." Jane suddenly wanted this to not be a big deal.
With her voice near a whisper, evident of bewilderment, Maura looked up at Jane who was looking at her with such love and concern she thought she might need to steady herself.
"I remember that day. I remember that moment." She sniffled but made no attempt to stop the tears trickling slowly down her cheeks.
"Ma went crazy with the camera that day, that's for sure." Jane put her arm around Maura's shoulder and brought her in closer.
"Please don't cry." She looked down at her, watching how her eyes were still glued to the photo.
Maura brought her left hand to brush away the tears, while smiling at the memory of that moment.
"I was so tired that day, and the last thing I wanted was to host sunday dinner. All I wanted to do was to curl up in bed and feel sorry for myself." She paused and noticed Jane rubbing her shoulder urging her to continue.
"Then Angela swooped in and made that beautiful meal, and told me repeatedly that she had everything under control, and that I should just relax and try to enjoy myself."
"It looks like you did too, don't you think?" Jane took a moment to appreciate the photo again, memories flooding back. It was taken at the same Sunday dinner as the photo of TJ, Tommy, and her. The first Sunday dinner with TJ, and the first Sunday dinner after Maura's surgery. Her and Maura on Maura's couch, heads together, arms around each other, smiling at the camera.
"We spent all day trying to cheer you up."
Maura chuckled. "I noticed that by the way."
"I knew you would, but it still worked in the end." She looked down at Maura again, and started rubbing her hand up and down Maura's arm.
"Ma gave me her SD card to get the other photo processed, and I looked through all of them. Let's just say they weren't all this good. There were a lot of bodies without heads in there." She laughed, and Maura laughed with her.
"I slept extremely well that night. So thank you." Maura smiled up at Jane, who could only return a beaming smile in return.
They both turned to look at the photo again, before Maura extracted herself from Jane's side to move back to the couch. She fetched a tissue out of her jacket pocket and dabbed her eyes. When she turned around she found Jane standing in the middle of the room looking around admiring the work they had just completed. Jane caught her eyes.
"We did pretty well don't you think? What was it you said about not being able to do both fast and good?"
"Look at the time, Jane."
She did. "Okay. I guess I prefer good then." They both laughed.
Maura picked up her handbag and jacket, and made a move to leave. She stopped to look around, before her eyes landed on Jane.
"We did good. And the grand finale was a really sweet gesture that I was not at all prepared for, evident by my reaction."
"It wasn't really a gesture, although maybe I should have given you a heads up or something." She gave Maura an uncertain smile.
"Heads up or not, it would still have been very sweet."
"I just wanted to get my walls up to date. Now the entire family is up there. It was entirely for my own benefit, although with everything you've been through lately I can see your point." She gave Maura a compassionate smile.
Maura moved towards Jane while putting her jacket on. Standing in front of Jane she felt at loss for words, a simple goodbye would not be enough right now. She lay a hand on Jane's shoulder.
"Gesture or not, I'm touched. It means a lot to me. I know that I've had you all worried for me these last few months, and I'm touched by that as well. More than I know how to express."
"You don't have to. Just remember that we're here for you. We're all here for you." She gestured to photos they had just put up all over the room.
Grasping Maura's elbow she looked her in the eye. "I'm here for you."
With that, Maura swallowed the lump in her throat, and said "I'll see you tomorrow. Thank you". She got on her tiptoes and kissed Jane on the cheek before she swiftly went out the door.
Jane watched the door close, before she looked around once again. When she felt a yawn sneak its way out, she started the methodical approach of turning every light source in her apartment off, like she had done so many times before.
When she got to the lamp on her work desk, she took an extra moment to appreciate the happy faces smiling towards her, before that too disappeared from sight.
She went to bed smiling. No doubt I'll sleep well tonight.